This week’s writing update: Have had an exhausting week and have been battling with fatigue. This week was hoping to do some writing, but no, it’s ending up being a week of promotion.
 
June is my birthday month so I decided to do a big promotion push for all my books and will be discounting my whole catalogue to 0.99 cents. So, things I have been doing for this:

• Creating promo assets and scheduling posts to run during the price reduction time.
• Booking email promotions with Written Media. These email promotion sites have thousands of readers who receive a weekly email with deals in genres they’re interested in and are an opportunity for authors to boost their sales.
• BookBub is a very robust promotion platform for authors and while the price of promotion is expensive, usually authors get sales to cover their expenditure. So, I applied for a BookBub featured deal, and submitted all six of my audiobooks for their Chip audiobook deal.
• Applied for other promotional opportunities with retailers Kobo and Barnes and Noble. They both provide internal promotional opportunities to their authors, so I went through and applied for every deal that my books are eligible for.
• Posted on Facebook groups to promote the romance anthology that I’m a part of.

 
Edited and approved another article for ABC Education, and of course pitched another idea. I still have an article to write for The Age that I haven’t been able to focus on, so this weekend.
 
I’ve got a gig as judge @insightpublications in the 2024 Insight Creative Writing competition for the year 8 year level with So excited about reading writing from young writers.
 

This week's writing update is a bit late as I've had some personal things going on that have drained me a bit.

I had my article published with ABC Education drop and am really proud of the work that went into it. This one was a bit tricky because I got really sick while writing it and it got a bit off track, so had to dig deep in terms of research to write it.

https://www.abc.net.au/education/it-is-important-for-students-to-develop-their-handwriting-skills/103786028

My audiobook Hollywood Dreams was published. This was in partnership with Twin Tales Publishing and through a royalty share arrangement so it was a new experience. As it sells, royalties will be split between the narrators, publisher and myself as author. It's always a thrill to add another book to my backlist so I've been undertaking some promotion in creating reels and uploading extracts.

https://www.amrapajalic.com/hollywood-dreams.html

I proofread my novella that is a prequel to my new mystery series and was playing around with covers and taglines and blurbs. I was hoping that these books would be well underway with publication, but have had a rocky start to the year so things are much slower.

I worked on my PhD and have started a new introduction. I completed a draft during summer school holidays, but haven't nailed the question and the critique. So I'm developing a new line of inquiry and when I started reading and writing, three hours passed in a blur. I have monthly meetings with my supervisors, which are so, so important because they give me a deadline to work toward and have something to submit.

I've also been editing a novel for another author. I'm always looking for opportunities to expand my side hustle. Editing is turning out to be a lot more time intensive than I thought, so I think this will be my first and last job.

​One of my joys in mid-life is discovering a love of gardening and plants. Over the past few years I have really embraced having green things and managed to keep most of them alive. When we moved to my current house I worked on my courtyard hedge on a regular basis, and then my elderly cat began going outside and using it for her business. She was frail and ill, and it seemed more important to give her the space. When she passed away I wanted to re-claim and re-vamp, and here it is.

I cleaned everything out, trimmed hedges, planted new plants, bought these long sticks from temu and the coloured pots that are hanging off the fence and spent the past few weeks getting it spick and span. Now, every morning as I sit at my kitchen table and look outside into the courtyard, I feel so joyous and happy. And I'm so excited to see how it transforms further as all my plants bloom and grow.

So excited to be launching my audiobook of my romance Hollywood Dreams written as Mae Archer, narrated by Sanya Simmons and James Palumbo, published in partnership with @twintalespublishing 

🌟Hollywood Dreams🎬
Dreams of Destiny Series, Book 1
She’s fallen for his greatest role. But can she fall for him? 💋
🍾She’s fallen for his greatest role. But can she fall for him? 

Tom is a method actor living as a war hero when he falls for Maree, and realizes too late that he’s made the mistake of a lifetime. 

Marie meets Tom Calvert on the rebound after the man she fell in love with disappears. Will Tom Calvert be able to convince her he is the real deal?

📚🎧Hollywood Dreams, romantic suspense novel, by Mae Archer is now available in ebook, paperback, hardcover, dyslexic font, large print, and audiobook. 🕶️

Retail links: https://books2read.com/Hollywood-Dreams
📚🎧All editions purchase links: https://www.amrapajalic.com/hollywood-dreams.html

Audibook links:

https://books.apple.com/au/audiobook/hollywood-dreams-unabridged/id1745411545

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/hollywood-dreams-mae-archer/1119714223?ean=2940192784891

https://www.kobo.com/us/en/audiobook/hollywood-dreams-9

https://www.everand.com/audiobook/730868734/Hollywood-Dreams


https://www.audiobooks.com/audiobook/hollywood-dreams/780825

https://www.audible.com.au/pd/Hollywood-Dreams-Audiobook/B0D3N24KYY?qid=1715410274

https://open.spotify.com/show/6Y05fgF2pX3Y4W73Rv68xU

https://libro.fm/audiobooks/9798875130946-hollywood-dreams

https://www.chirpbooks.com/audiobooks/hollywood-dreams-by-mae-archer

https://www.storytel.com/tv/books/hollywood-dreams-5573477

https://www.booktopia.com.au/hollywood-dreams-mae-archer/audiobook/9798875130946.html

Enjoyed a lovely High Tea event with my tiny at Overnewton Castle this afternoon for Mother's Day. Feeling all sleepy and full after a delicious spread. Here's some photos of me on the grounds and the gorgeous castle during the day.

PS Need to find a new pose. But what do I do with my hands?

This week’s writing update:
 
Had our event for the book Growing up Muslim in Australia hosted by Bruno Lettieri, with my gorgeous friend and co-editor Demet Divaroren. Was such a beautiful atmosphere at the heritage Emerald Library and the amazing Alice Pung came to support us. So grateful for my friends and collaborators. This business can be lonely, and so having your people really helps.
 
Finished an article commissioned by ABC Education and sent it off. So grateful to Ara Sarafin for his support in helping me develop these articles and reach deeper.
 
Pitched another idea to The Age and have some notes from the editor to flesh out and write a draft to submit.
 
Accepted some proofreading work and have been chipping away at it.
 
Have handed over my crime novel to developmental editor so that’s in the background.
 
Have been diversifying my interests and also working on my garden at home over the past few weeks and can’t wait to debut it in photos when I get the chance to put my finishing touches. I always wanted to be the sort of person who gardens and has flowers, and there is something so empowering about becoming who I want to be.
 
So, I haven’t been working on my own fiction as much, for a number of reasons including feeling a bit under the weather, but am still slowly moving the chess pieces around for my crime fiction trilogy that I want to publish in one go.
 

Had our event for the book Growing up Muslim in Australia hosted by Bruno Lettieri, with my gorgeous friend and co-editor Demet Divaroren. Was such a beautiful atmosphere at the heritage Emerald Library and the amazing Alice Pung came to support us. So grateful for my friends and collaborators. This business can be lonely, and so having your people really helps.

Have been so privileged to have my piece St Albans read and studied by students at Ivanhoe College. I've been answering questions and created some video recordings so decided to create a page dedicated to this piece and my answers.

https://www.amrapajalic.com/st-albans-piece.html